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Figure Skating Elegance in Vienna

April 04, 2012

Thirty-one athletes from six countries competed in Austria’s 4th National Winter Games Figure Skating competition held in March in the beautiful city of Vienna.

Calum Titmus after winning Gold!

The Games brought 31 athletes together from across 6 countries. Thirteen (13) skaters represented Austria; Germany and Russia were each represented by six (6) athletes; two (2) skaters from Slovak Republic and two (2) from Iceland took part and one (1) athlete, Calum Titmus, from Special Olympics Great Britain participated. For two days the skaters competed in front of a panel of five international judges, four of which judged at the recent Special Olympics World Games.

SOGB’s Calum Titmus won Gold in the men’s event and is the first ever Figure Skater to represent Great Britain in this sport on international level. He will compete at the 1st Special Olympics GB National Figure Skating Championship to be held in Dumfries on 12-13 May 2012 where he hopes to qualify for the next Special Olympics World Winter Games to take place in PyeongChang, South Korea in 2013.

Ms. Margarita Sweeney-Baird, founder of the Global Project for Impaired Skaters, based in the UK, attended the competition in Vienna where she addressed an advanced Judging Training Seminar which took place at the Games. Ms. Baird spoke about the upcoming GB Special-Olympics Skating Championships in Dumfries and her project to improve global recognition for skaters with disabilities and the difficulties they face. Visit www.impairedskating.org/ for more details of this project.

The judging in the SOGB competition in May will be done with an adapted version of the new International Judging System by the International Skating Union which is seen as a positive step.

Congratulations to all the athletes who participated and represented their countries with such honour and elegance in Vienna.